I had a blast thinking of how to write my entry for July’s group writing project sponsored by MamaBlogga. While I didn’t win it was fun to read all the entries. Look for another one next month. Here is a list of all the entries for this month. Enjoy them all!
Filed under: Deeper Still — by fullofboys @ 7:16 am
What a whirlwind of a week we have had lately. Silas has been to the doctor three times, Isaiah went to kindergarten orientation and Joel got bit by a dog!My house is full of adventures for sure! This past weekend I had a huge revelation. Now you might already know this but for me it was like someone turned on the brightest light possible in my prayer life. I have been praying for months that Silas would ‘get better’, ‘be healed’, and all those other fancy words. To me, it was the perfect prayer a mom should pray for her son. I kept asking and I kept getting frustrated and angry. Why was God not listening? Or better yet, why was He ignoring me? I mean, I am sure he hates to see Silas sick so why let this continue. I battled this thought for some time. Then, driving to the doctor last week it hit me: maybe I have been praying wrong all the time. Now before you start looking for the one shot prayer forget it. It isn’t that I learned how to pray better or make my prayer stick, I learned that my heart had to be open. You see, I had been praying that God would heal Silas…no other options seemed possible. And while I still believe God heals, I also know that God allows things for his purpose.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28
How many times have I read that and I conveniently skip it? All things, people. Not just some things in our lives, not just the good ALL things! I started praying that God would give wisdom to Silas’ doctors and all the technicians we met. I started praying that God would use me as a mom to help other moms who might have children with needs and encourage them. I started praying that Silas would one day have compassion for children and adults that undergo testing and wait for answers.
You see, God knew I needed a lesson, and he found a way to teach it to me through my son. I look over the last year and it would be easy to say ‘it has been tough’ because at times it was. However, I also see God hand weaving friendships, manicuring my heart and bringing my family to a deeper place together that we had been before. God does use everything for His good and while we may not see it in the moment we will soon be able to look back at his beauty in the breaking, waiting and learning.
My week flew by last week and with all that is on the calendar already, I think this week will be much the same. Having a menu plan has helped keep me organized and prepared! Here is this week’s menu. For more great menu ideas, click here.
Monday: Steak Stir Fry
Saturday: My sister is coming into town! We are meeting my family for lunch at Cracker Barrel! We will most likely do something simple like Nachos from the left over Taco Meat for dinner
Thank you to everyone who participated in the Dog Days of Summer Giveaway. I thought that there ‘might’ be as many as 30 or so people who would like this book. Would you believe I had over 170 comments? Wow! I would love to give a copy yo everyone but I can’t so thanks to Random.org, they picked for me. The winners are:
Catastrophe (according to Webster): [noun] a sudden widespread disaster
Catastrophe (according to the Garton House): [noun] inevitable events that will occur while school is out and will happen long before 9am
I love summer! I am not a fan of the hot, humid weather but I love the fact that I get 8 weeks with my children. Now, with that said, let me wipe away EVERY misconception that I a ’super mom’. I am not. I just enjoy summer with the kids…until the last week! Yep, you read that right. We start school in about a week and I am ever so ready to send the kids on their way. And even writing that makes me wonder what kind of mom am I? Honestly, the kind that loves her kids. Yesterday would be a good example of what can happen in our house.
It is early here…too early to let them run outside. I doubt that my teenage neighbor next door wants to be awoken by the sounds of two little boys screaming outside at 7am. So I keep them in and try to entertain them. Eventually entertainment turns into a chasing battle. Isaiah is on the heels of Joel. They run around the coffee table and into the hallway. Before I have time to say ’someone is going to get hurt’ I hear the hysterical scream of Isaiah. The scream that should mean I am bleeding and about to die come save me but in reality meant I just got hit in the eye with the doorknob. The little details are still a blur but from their jabbering I get that Joel tried to close the door so that Isaiah would not come in the room after him. Apparently Isaiah was at the door and the knob hit him very close to his eye. After calming Isaiah down and moving his hand enough I see a know forming and the eye is swelling. I get the ice pack and put it on his eye only for less than 60 seconds later Isaiah proudly announces that he feels better.
WHAT? How did be go from a blood curdling scream to I feel fine? I guess it is a boy thing. So Isaiah has a black swollen eye, just in time for school. Joel has a new appreciation of the weapon called a door knob and me? Well, I just have a few days left with my sometimes rowdy, always loud and occasionally catastrophe prone children!
Momma Blogga is doing a Group Writing Project. I haven’t done it before but I thought it would still be fun to participate. This month’s theme is ‘thanks, mom’. So here we go!
It would be difficult for me to thank just my mom as I feel I have been blessed with two moms in my life. The first is obviously the woman who carried me in her womb and gave birth to me. The second mom (or Mama as we call her) is my mother in law. I know so many friends who have an ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ relationship with their mother in law. Not me! I am so blessed to have her in my life. Now that I have identified my two moms…how can I say thanks? I really doubt I will ever have the words to thank them for what they have taught me but I still want to try to get them out.
Mom – thanks for being a fighter. I know it would have been easy to lose hope and give up when the doctors told you you would have chemo for a second time. But you kept fighting. I loved that you always wanted to see new pictures of the boys while you were in the hospital. Thank you for taking time to talk to Isaiah while you were sick. You were always upbeat when you spoke to him and I appreciate the fact that you never let on to him that you didn’t feel well. You continued to let that two year old little boy know that you cared. You allowed me to share quiet times with you. Thanks for leaning on me. You taught me how to not just be a daughter but a source of comfort and strength.
Mama – thank you for your son, who completes all my short comings! You raised him to be a Godly man who leads his family, an honest man who values integrity and a modest man who will never admit how wise he is! You taught me how to stand firm when I needed to discipline my own children and you have taught me how to allow them to be boys! Thank you for taking time to teach me a skill in cake decorating. I know it was/is time consuming and I still have tons of questions but you always have patience with me! More importantly, thank you for giving me an example of a healthy mom/son relationship and a view of how to let go when that time comes. I hope my boys respect and honor me the way Heath does you.
Thanks to Mom and Mama – I know you both make me who I am and give me courage to strive to be who I can.
Welcome to everyone who is just now getting introduced to my blog here at Raising Boys. Feel free to browse and learn about our adventures with three boys as well as being a mom, wife and friend. Jodi over at Fruit Inspection tagged me to participate in the 4 Things meme. I figure this is a great time so that old and new readers a like can learn a little about me. So, here are my four.
Jobs I’ve Held:
Stocker for Amway consultant
Waitress
Kitchen Cook at local restaurant
Office Manager at travel agency
Movies I can watch over and over again:
Shawshank Redemption
Oceans 11
Any of the Bourne movies (does that count as 2 or maybe 3?)
Broken Trail
Places I have lived
Tn (3 different places)
TV Shows I watch:
American Idol
House
Dancing with the Stars
Project Runway
Places I have been on vacation:
Gulf Shores
West Palm Beach, FL
Bermuda
Alabama – as long as visiting family counts!
Of my favorite foods:
Chicken Parmesan
Baked Potatoes
Sonic Coke – and yes, this counts!
Death by Chocolate Ice Cream by Purity
Websites I visit:
Myspace
ebay
Weather.com – come on, trying to focus on the weather on tv with three kids running around is hard to do!
I admit it. This last year has been really tough for me emotionally. Sweet Silas was born on July 18th via a planned c-section. Having had two other natural births I was very apprehesive about a c-section. However, once he was here, I knew we had made the best decision for him…after all it was not about me. Fast forward a few months and he was diagnosed with a swallowing disorder. Basically, he was swallowing twice in order to get liquid into his stomach. A portion of the liquid would go into his lungs. After countless ear infections, tests and finally video imaging we found the answers to why he was getting sick so often. We thickened his formula. Made sure he never had anything too thin that would ‘leak’ into his lungs. And we prayed, we asked our friends to pray. All seemed well.
This past Friday I could tell something just wasn’t right with him. I took him to the doctor in the afternoon and heard the news that he indeed had aspirated pnemonia. What this meant was that fluid was still getting into his lungs and it had caused pnemonia. While it isn’t contagious, can I tell you I just wanted to cry. Partly because I felt I just didn’t do enough to help prevent it. Another part of me was discouraged. We were told this might ‘heal on it’s own by the time he was a year old’. Obviously it has not. I left the office (antibiotic in hand) and headed home. I made all the calls to family to give them the update and I tried my best to sound positive.
Truth be told, I am weary from this. I am just to ready to get off this cycle. I know that there are so many children that have problems so much more complex than a swallowing disorder but it still rocks my world occasionally. I get angry, I have questions that never seemed to be answered. I try to tell everyone, even myself that God has a purpose. And while I know that in my head, it is so difficult to convince my heart (and emotions) that it is true. I do a fine balance between trusting in logic, medicine and my actions and trusting in a God who formed Silas in His hands and placed in my womb. It shouldn’t be a complicated web of trust but it is. I heard this song by Casting Crowns called East to West on the radio today. I loved these two lines:
‘Here I am Lord, in your sea of forgetfullness, chains of yesterday surround me and I yearn for peace and rest’
It echos my heart, my mind, my heart. We were told that Silas could have been much worse. We were told that he should have had pnemonia as early as birth. We were told…and yet he didn’t. I truly believe God’s hand was on his little body then and I know it is still. And I still forget that. I forget that He made Silas, crafted his spirit, placed every red little hair on his head. I forget that He gives me the peace I need in every situation…not always a peaceful situation. He gives me strength to handle every medical test and the wisdom to understand the results.
This song humbled me and reminded me that God knows more than I can fathom. I encourage you to click below and listen…maybe even close your eyes and listen. May you find mercy and rest in His arms today.
Please note: Comments are closed now. I will announce a winner Monday! Thanks for entering!
If you are looking for Menu Plan Monday, click here
How about a little giveaway? Rocks in My Dryer is hosting a ‘carnival of giveaways’. Click here to learn more about it. I decided to participte in this and I am super excited as it is my first time ever doing a giveaway!
Since my site is about raising boys, I will be giving away 2 copies of John Eldredge’s Wild at Heart. I love this book. While it is great to read to get to know my husband better, it is one of my favorite ‘parenting books’ for my boys. Reading it through a mother’s eyes is completely different. It has helped me understand more about my children and their natural God given desires and character traits. If you don’t have boys, participate anyway! You might be able to give it to someone else who does!
How does it work? Simply go to the comments section and leave me a comment. You don’t have to have a blog to enter. The contest ends Friday night at 9:00pm CST. I will draw two names randomly. Check back on Monday for the winners!
It is that time again! I am beginning to love Mondays – well at least the posting part! We started last week on schedule but got a little off with dog bites and a quick camping trip for Heath, Isaiah and Joel. Here is this week’s menu!
Monday: Bacon, Egg and Cheese Biscuits (still frozen biscuits). Of course, I end up making Isaiah just eggs, Joel just biscuits and always have grits with it for the boys.
Saturday: Muffins for breakfast, Tacos for lunch. For will be ordering pizza for dinner because we have some friends coming over wiht their two little guys!
Sunday: Sweet Rolls, I think we will do Nachos or something else super quick. We have Isaiah’s kindergarten orientation that afternoon. For dinner we are going to a cook out for church!
Error: Please make sure the Twitter account is public.
ABOUT ME:
I am a twenty something stay at home mom (SAHM) who works part time out of the house. I am the proud mom of three boys - 6, 4 and 2 years old. I am married to my best friend, Heath. We strive to model Jesus Christ's love and character on a daily basis. At the end of the day we want our children to value integrity and honesty above anything else. While I try to raise them the best I can, there are just days when I feel like they are raising me! However, at the end of the day I love the adventure of living in a house Full of Boys!
